Stearns County commissioners have eliminated a 15-year-old panel of technical experts created to review requests to make major alterations to lakeshore property.

Instead, the county’s planning commission will consider whether to grant a conditional use permit for those alterations, which often involve filling or grading along lakeshore or adding a retaining wall or rock rip-rap.

Only one person spoke Tuesday at a public hearing on the change to the county’s shoreland ordinance; Tom Weber of Paynesville spoke in favor of the change on behalf of the Stearns County Coalition of Lake Associations.

Stearns County formed the panel in 1998 because the planning commission didn't feel it had the expertise to review the applications, which tend to be complicated and highly technical.

Since then, the county's shoreland ordinance has evolved, and more lakeshore projects don’t require a major alteration permit.

The shoreland review panel is the latest in a series of boards Stearns County commissioners have been examining to see if they are still necessary.

Environmental staff has cautioned that the change could lengthen the amount of time it takes to get a permit. It takes an average of 20 days to get a shoreland alteration project decision, but about 40 days for a conditional use permit.